Next Mass Effect Isn't Going to Be Ready for a Long, Long Time, Suggests BioWare Vet

The Veilguard effect

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Title:
Mass Effect
System:
PlayStation 5
Also Available For:
PS3
Publisher:
Electronic Arts
Developer:
BioWare
Genre:
RPG
Release Date:
PlayStation 5
https://static.pushsquare.com/themes/base/images/flags/us.gif To Be Announced
https://static.pushsquare.com/themes/base/images/flags/eu.gif To Be Announced
Series:
Mass Effect

Now that BioWare's all but done with Dragon Age: The Veilguard — barring any updates, but we've heard absolutely nothing on that front for months — the developer's attention is fixed firmly on the next Mass Effect. Except, it sounds like that project is still years away.

As explained in his latest video on his own personal YouTube channel, BioWare and Dragon Age veteran Mark Darrah — who most recently worked as a consultant on The Veilguard — the next Mass Effect title is only just getting off the ground, both in terms of team size and planning.

"Mass Effect isn't ready to suddenly have a team of 250, 300 people working on it," says Darrah (as transcribed by GamesRadar). His reasoning is that the new Mass Effect wasn't "up and running" in parallel to The Veilguard, and so unlike past BioWare projects, it's not a case of simply having everyone jump from one game to another.

Basically, Mass Effect is still in some phase of pre-production; it can only take on staff once the project's leads have nailed down its scope, development timelines, and more.

Until then, Darrah says that the team will "need to find other work for them within the rest of the EA organization". In the meantime, "the Mass Effect team figures out what Mass Effect is going to be, figures out the structure, and then gets ready to ramp up to a much bigger team size".

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This new Mass Effect was announced all the way back in November 2020, over four whole years ago. In April 2022, BioWare confirmed that the title was "in early development". However, it's fair to assume that Dragon Age: The Veilguard — and its troubled development cycle — played a significant part in keeping the next Mass Effect grounded.

If we're lucky, we'll hear something positive about Mass Effect this year — but we wouldn't expect to see anything substantial from this one for a long, long time yet.

What's your take on the next Mass Effect, and BioWare in general? Give us your depressing release date prediction in the comments section below.

[source youtube.com, via resetera.com, gamesradar.com]

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About Robert Ramsey

Robert (or Rob if you're lazy) is an assistant editor of Push Square, and has been a fan of PlayStation since the 90s, when Tekken 2 introduced him to the incredible world of video games. He still takes his fighting games seriously, but RPGs are his true passion. The Witcher, Persona, Dragon Quest, Mass Effect, Final Fantasy, Trails, Tales — he's played 'em all. A little too much, some might say.

Comments 41

That means the game is still literally in the conceptualisation stage, oh dear…

Unless they Improve on the writing and actual gameplay loops/mechanics then don't bother. Dragon age veil guard really has tainted Bioware's good will.

The fact that a new Mass Effect game is on the way and that I don't much care is a testament to how poorly BioWare has been run in the past decade. I'm looking elsewhere to scratch that Mass Effect itch. I'm more likely to pre-order Exodus than I am this new Mass Effect game, coming in 2028.

As a gamer these super-early announcements can be a bit annoying, when we won't see the game for up to a decade. But the reality is most super-early announcements are more job adverts to try and tempt devs who are a fan of Mass Effect to come and work on the next one. In theory we should end up with a better game with passionate devs who are a fan of the series onboard.

Genuinely doubt we’ll see it this decade which is ridiculous 😭

Lol, and no one is going to care for a long, long time. Bye.

Whelp, guess it’s time to buy the collection next time it’s $6 lol

I don't really care how far away it is. As long as the quality is there then I can wait for however long it takes.

@themightyant yeah, and games are announced to keep investors happy.

I'm old so I remember, for example, there only being 2-3 years between releases, such as Mass Effect or Uncharted. It's not really worth getting excited about any game because the development cycle is too long. I would be happy with Mass Effect length RPG's from studios because they are quicker to make and quicker for a gamer to complete.

Seems like we're gonna have to wait until at least 2030 for this

I am sure it's coming along and the shift is slowly happening, unless they decide to do some dlc for the veilguard afterall to fill the time. Something i would not mind. I really enjoyed it.

I would be surprised if it's more than 3-4 years away.

@GuttyYZ those seventh generation development cycles were up to their eyeballs in crunch. The industry has moved away from that as a whole due to the major backlash and publicity surrounding it since. With a greater level of detail to boot, the games of the modern era now take even longer than they would have. Any AAA development cycle being less than 5 years is a thing of the past now.

Mass Effect and Elder Scrolls, 2 of my most anticipated game series and now I couldn't care less. Alas, there is no shortage in quality gaming experiences so it's all good. :]

Well, with the (warning: sarcasm!) massive roaring success of Veilguard, I have very little confidence this Mass Effect game will be even Andromeda-level quality.

I really hope I’m wrong, because the ME trilogy is damn near perfection. But…

I can see it now, Shepard and crew aboard the Normandy 3 sitting around talking about their favourite coffee and other riveting conversations.

This reminds me that I bought the ME Legendary Edition trilogy during the BF sale. I really hope these games still have the impact everyone says they have, since I never played them before and they might feel old and clunky now.

If it's that early there's a decent chance it doesn't ever see the light of day. Depends on how much confidence EA has that they can turn things around after Veilguard. They don't have much sunk cost to protect them.

I probably wouldn't have announced it four years ago then.

Pre production is in no way supposed to be 4 years long

@GuttyYZ Yes investors is another reason to sometimes announce early, though I think less frequent than we might think. I'm old too so remember when a trilogy used to launch in 3 years like Prince of Persia or Spyro, but that isn't the case anymore and hasn't been for a long time.

I agree i'd prefer shorter games. But when even Spider-man 2, was a good length at 15 - 25 hours get's criticism for being too short I think the goalposts have moved, sadly.

I really wish companies would focus less on graphical fidelity so games don’t take 5-10 years to make. Remember when square was just pumping out classics in the psx era? Not that we need that many games cranked out. But still. What’s going on right now is madness.

There is absolutely no way they would make a good mass effect game today.

@Darude84 the first one does for sure. But 2 and 3 still hold up pretty well.

@Darude84 they do feel old and clunky but are still excellent games and run like a dream 4k60 or 1440p120 on ps5

Ridiculous. So we have to wait another 3-4 years. Wow

this gen has been so bad like cobwebs and dust

Ive never really been into Mass Effect, but given how much I enjoyed DAV I may give the next ME a proper look - pity its going to be so long.

@Darude84 feeling old and clunky is relative. Just go into them ignoring how old they are. They run smooth and the story is engaging as a first timer if you like that type of genre it will be entertaining.

@Oram77
"Dragon age veil guard really has tainted Bioware's good will."
Not for all - DAV has made Bioware a studio on my 'watch' list. In fact, the same is true for everyone Ive spoken to who has actually played the game.

DAV is probably on my top 10 games this gen - and considering 5 of those games are Sony games, theres not that many 3rd parties on that list.

And yet they teased it 🙄🙄🙄🙄

Not a good sign for the rumour (apparently relayed from insiders/staff) that Bioware is about to be shut down by February.

@Rich33 I know a lot of people really like the game and that's totally cool. But as I keep saying for a Dragon age game it has done really poorly. I really do feel if Bioware made this a new IP that would fared a lot better. I will still stand by, that the writing for this game is awful (no I'm not talking about the "woke" discourse).

I'm a big Mass Effect fan, but after reading this, I think I've given up on it now.

I've seen a couple of new sci fi RPGs on the way which I can look forward to.

@ApostateMage And then the ancient Krogan ritual of doing jumping jacks if they unintentionally offend someone, of course.

After Veilguard, expectations are low to non-existent.

I doubt the next Mass Effect is going to even be made by BioWare. They've had three high-profile failures since 2017. Is EA really going to want to invest what would probably be $200 million minimum in another big project from such a problematic studio?

@Oram77
I take the point of a new IP, but without the name of an established IP, games sometimes get overlooked. They would also have new lore to write etc.
If all DA games were numbered, maybe they should have gone with a non numbered title, but as they arent, its more subjective.

In terms of writing, I thought it was good - it made me laugh at times, but was definitely was no GOWR or similar, and did have some weird misses in the scripting, however, it was much better than a lot of games - im playing DW origins atm and the scripting in that is awful - decent game though.

spoiler alert, its made by a whole different team than when the series was good and its going to suck

I understand these big RPGs take a ton of work, but to barely have even done anything alongside working on Veilguard is a bit odd. You would think Bioware would be large enough to at least have a small group on the side getting it at least ready to go into development when they were done with Veilguard.

The Liara teaser was 2020? Feels longer. Anyway, it definitely sucks that it's so far out. Been waiting for this ever since Andromeda was a letdown.

That's because EA is probably working out if they even want Bioware to make it after the massive flop that was Veilguard.

I look forward to the PS article about how it was a massive flop as well. I mean you guys made one every chance you got about Rebirth right so I'm sure Veilguard being a massive flop must deserve at least one article.

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